Audi City points the way in the future of premium car sales: This physical cyberstore presents Audi’s entire model range using virtual technology throughout, and offers top caliber personal advice and service. The showroom concept therefore blends digital innovation with the strengths of the physical dealership, and acts as the main innovation lab for digitally connected sales activities at Audi. At the forefront of developments in this pioneering field, the Company opened the first Audi City in 2012 and has since been gradually refining the successful formula.
The showroom concept welcomes guests to a new type of location for automotive sales: prime downtown sites in major international cities – from Berlin and London to Istanbul and Beijing. It is the first place where – with its compact dimensions – the entire model portfolio of the four rings can be experienced almost true to life, in virtual technology.
Using innovative media technology, fans and customers of the brand can customize their dream Audi from several hundred million different possible configurations, then experience it on almost 1:1 scale on floor-to-ceiling mega-screens .
Audi City offers a special brand experience, with no pressure. It doesn’t matter whether visitors are there to surf through the world of Audi out of sheer curiosity, find out more about the latest technologies and services, or configure their own individual model with a specific intention to buy and place an order. On top of that, every guest visiting Audi City can access almost the entire range of services offered by a classic dealership – because in organizational terms the cyberstore acts as a satellite outlet of a conventional dealership.
AUDI AG is systematically extending its pioneering sales concept: Following on from the opening of the first Audi City close to Piccadilly Circus in London in 2012, it has established additional locations in the heart of Beijing (2013) and on Berlin’s Kurfürstendamm (2014). In May 2016 the latest manifestation of the format joined the network in Istanbul, with a further enhanced experience factor. The virtual Audi models are now represented with photorealism, and the digital technologies are now even more efficient in terms of energy consumption and cost.
In parallel, the premium manufacturer is strengthening the integration of Audi City into its international dealer network by developing central elements from the digital showroom for flexible, modular use within dealerships. By the start of 2016, 30 dealers worldwide had already introduced digital modules from Audi City on their premises, with the figure set to reach around 200 dealerships by the end of 2016.
Audi City: The mission
The automotive world is changing fast – and with it, the expectations and needs that people bring with them when looking to purchase a premium car. Today, nine out of ten customers thinking of buying a new car first do some fact-finding online. Ratings of products and brands on social networks are some of the most prominent sources of information available today, amid an almost unlimited range of digital formats. With most of the initial information being gathered in advance of the visit to the dealership, the expectations surrounding a sales consultation with dealership experts make the task all the more demanding – when it comes to comparing, weighing up and selecting from a steadily growing product offering. When considering tailor‑made financial services, too, dialogue with the dealer is essential for add‑on services such as mobility solutions, inspection packages or the trade-in of a used car.
For many people, spontaneous and uncomplicated contact with the brand is becoming increasingly important, be it on digital platforms or in real life – in a lunch break, during a weekend shopping trip or from the convenience of their own home. Audi has set itself the task of bringing together the benefits of the real and the digital worlds, to fully integrate them and thus create a perfect brand experience for the customer in a seamless fusion of the two worlds.
Audi City is one of the Company’s responses to this development. The concept was developed specifically for prime locations at the center of international metropolises – for those places where trends are born, where social diversity is lived and breathed and leading brands from other sectors are located. Here, in the best retail locations, Audi City presents itself as a real‑life cyberstore that connects physical space with the virtual world.
Center-stage is the digital and almost true-to-life representation of Audi models on floor‑to‑ceiling projection surfaces – the powerwalls. They enable dealerships to display for the very first time the complete Audi portfolio. In the course of its model initiative, the brand has expanded the product lineup substantially over the last few years – from 23 basic models in 2007 to now over 50 at the end of 2015. With all colors, equipment options and functions there are now several hundred million possible configurations to choose from across the entire model range. Audi City evokes every single one in detail, thus picking up on the worldwide trend towards custom offerings. More and more customers want to drive their very own, customized Audi, and they want to see it in as much detail as possible right there in the dealership.
For that, customers have the assistance of the Audi expert. These staff members function as central contacts for all services – from the purchase of a new car to after sales matters. For more detailed discussions, there are Customer Private Lounges available in the Audi City – these are comfortable consultation suites in the style of an exclusive studio.
The Audi expert continues to provide assistance to their customers even after the sales conversation – organizing, for instance, Collect and Return services. To that end, every Audi City location is affiliated to a nearby Audi dealership. It serves as a center of expertise and a channel for arranging test drives and servicing, for example.
With Audi City, the brand is successfully developing premium car sales to the next level and is conquering new customers for the four rings. The response at the locations already opened confirms just how successful the concept is. In Beijing, on average almost 5,000 visitors pass through the doors of Audi City each week. In London, the sales figures compared with the former brand outlet at the same location soared by around 70 percent, and 60 percent of all customers are new to the Ingolstadt carmaker. In Berlin, too, Audi City has earned a reputation as a premium sales location – its customers spend around one-quarter more on Audi cars with extra high-specification equipment compared with the brand average for Berlin.
